| "NNumber One" (sometimes called "First Wife")is the most familiar
of Stevie's guitars. It
was a beat-up 1959 Stratocaster body and originally had a 1962 neck. Number One
possessed a deep, growly tone that was instantly identifiable. Stevie used it for many of
his songs. Over the years, Stevie and Rene Martinez gradually replaced nearly every
part of the guitar. B 1990,the body and the pickups were the only remaining original
parts. Stevie acquired Number One in 1973 from a shop in Austin. He liked the tobacco-sunburst finish and the thick rosewood D-neck (Stevie had large hands, so thinnecks presented a problem for him). Number One originally had a white pickguard, a right-handed tremelo bar, and 1959 pickups. Stevie eventually replaced the white pickguard with a black one and added the familiar "SRV" lettering. Rene reports that Stevie would scour truck stops to find replacement lettering! The tremelo unit was replaced with a gold left-handed unit in 1977. Stevie had always emulated Jimi Hendrix and Otis Rush, both of whom were left-handed and played right-handed guitars turned upside down. He may also have had the pickups rewired, although no proof of this exists. Another modification to Number One was the replacement of the frets. Jumbo bass-style frets were added to add sustain and facilitate string bending. The second advantage was especially important, as Stevie always used massively thick strings. His string sizes varied over the years, but they were always fairly large. This choice of strings was very hard on Stevie's fingers and he eventually switched to smaller strings to save wear and tear on his hands. A sample of his string gauges (from high E down) is .013, .016, .019, .028, .038, .056. Number One endured much abuse during its life with Stevie. During his shows, Stevie would scrape, kick, and pound away at it, stripping the finish from its body. Stevie's heavy strumming also wore down the surface of the guitar, particularly just above the strings. The gouge is visible by Stevie's hand in the picture above. Once, Stevie tried to bounce Number One off a wall (a trick of his brother Jimmie's). The impact severely damaged the headstock, which was repaired by Rene Martinez. By 1989, Stevie was considering retiring Number One. The neck had been repaired so many times that it would not take new frets and was very difficult to play. Rene replaced it with the neck from "Scotch", another of Stevie's Stratocasters. In 1990, that neck was broken when a piece of stage scenery fell on several of Stevie's guitars. Rene eventually ordered a replacement neck from Fender and received a copy of the 1963 neck. Currently, Number One is thought to be in the possession of either Jimmie or Martha Vaughan, although rumors persist that it is buried with Stevie in Dallas. After Stevie's death, Rene Martinez supposedly put the original neck back on Number One and presented it to the Vaughan family. |